Product Description
This morning, Commander Vimes of the City Watch had it all. He was a Duke. He was rich.He was respected. He had a silver cigar case. He was about to become a father.
This morning he thought longingly about the good old days.
Tonight, he’s in them.
Flung back in time by a mysterious accident, Sam Vimes has to start all over again. He must get a new name and a job, and there’s only one job he’s good at: cop in the Watch. He must track down a brutal murderer. He must find his younger self and teach him everything he knows. He must whip the cowardly, despised Night Watch into a crack fighting force — fast. Because Sam Vimes knows what’s going to happen. He remembers it. He was there. It’s part of history. And you can’t change history . . .
But Sam is going to. He has no choice. Otherwise, a bloody revolution will start, and good men will die. Sam saw their names on old headstones just this morning — but tonight they’re young men who think they have a future. And rather than let them die, Sam will do anything — turn traitor, burn buildings, take over a revolt, anything — to snatch them from the jaws of history. He will do it even if victory will mean giving up the only future he knows.
For if he succeeds, he’s got no wife, no child, no riches, no fame — all that will simply vanish. But if he doesn’t try, he wouldn’t be Sam Vimes.
And so the battle is on. He knows how it’s going to end; after all, he was there. His name is on one of those headstones. But that’s just a minor detail . . .
E. A. Lovitt @ 6:55 pm
One of the tricky parts of a time travel novel is explaining to the traveler (especially if his journey is inadvertent as it is in “Night Watch”) and the reader just what the heck happened.
Luckily, in a previous Discworld novel, “Thief of Time” (2001), Pratchett invented Lu-Tze and the Time Monks, so that when Sam Vimes travels back to his own past while chasing a cold-blooded murderer, a little bald wrinkly smiling man (Rule #1: “Do not act incautiously when confronting little bald wrinkly smiling men!”) rescues Sam from the clutches of history’s cowardly, badly run Night Watch, and explains what has happened.
Basically, young Sam Vimes has just joined the past’s Night Watch and the older Sam Vimes must teach him to be a good cop while disguised as Sargeant John Keel, newly arrived in Ankh-Morpork and ready to kick some sloppy, sadistic cop butt.
If ‘old’ Vimes doesn’t make sure ‘young’ Vimes becomes a decent cop, his future, his wife, his position as Commander of the Watch will be lost to him. Good men will needlessly die.
Historical Ankh-Morpork is also gearing up for a revolt against a Patrician who is propped up by a really nasty secret police gang. Once ‘Sargeant John Keel’ gets himself clothed, out of jail, his plight explained by Lu-Tze, and is put in charge of the Treacle Mine Road Watch House, he must train up young Sam Vimes (as well as future-Sargeant Colon, and Nobby Nobbs), capture a killer, and make sure the Revolution is won by the right people.
Only then Vimes will get to return to the ‘future’ where his wife is about to give birth.
I enjoy all of Discworld novels starring the redoubtable Sam Vimes, but “Night Watch” is something special. The plot zips from beginning to end, never slowing down except for the mandatory insertion of the Time Monks, who have to explain the how and why of Sam’s excursion into his own past. Many of the loose ends from previous Night Watch novels are tied together and neatly tucked in. Most of all, I was delighted by a deepening illumination of character–not just of Vimes, but of the Patrician Vetinari, Sargeant Colon, and Nobby Nobbs. While you read, you’ll be thinking ‘of course they started like this.’ Pratchett is that good.
If you’d like to read the Sam Vimes/Night Watch books in order of publication, they are: “Guards! Guards!” (1989); “Men at Arms” (1993); “Feet of Clay” (1996); “Jingo” (1997); “Night Watch” (2002); and “Thud!” (2005).
John Newman @ 9:45 pm
Night Watch is the 27th, or 28th (depending on how you count them) book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. The Discworld series takes place on the flat world of the Disc which is carried on the backs of four elephants standing on the great Turtle, A’tuin, as he (or maybe she) swims through space. On the Disc mariners who attempt to sail over the horizon, in fact, sail over the edge. The Disc is home to magic and many magical creatures and beings abound, gods, dwarfs, trolls, vampires, zombies, werewolves, wizards, witches and more. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books can be grouped into categories depending on who the primary characters are. I tend to think of the categories as the Wizards of the Unseen University, the Witches of Lancre, Death, and the City Watch. Most of the Discworld books fall into one of these categories although a few like Pyramids, Moving Pictures and Small Gods don’t. Night Watch though is definitely a City Watch book.
In Night Watch, we learn how Samuel Vimes’ character was formed. His Grace, the Duke Samuel Vimes, the commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is dispatched back in time (along with a ruthless killer) to the waning days of the corrupt Lord Winder’s reign as ruler of Ankh-Morpork. Vimes must assume the identity of John Keel, a guardsman recently recruited to the Ankh-Morpork Night Watch as a Sergeant at Arms. In the Night Watch he finds his earlier self, takes him under his wing and teaches him how to be a good copper. In his jaunt back to the past Vimes meets earlier versions of Fred Colon as a corporal, Nobby Nobbs as a street urchin, Reg Shoe as a non-zombie revolutionary and a young new street vendor named Dibbler just starting out. Lu-Tze, the sweeper monk of history, makes an appearance trying to get Vimes to accept his role in the course of events leading up to the revolution that ousts Lord Winder. A young Vetinari, as a senior at the Assasins Guild also takes part in the plot.
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books are jewels of humorous fantasy and Night Watch is no exception. The most enjoyable Discworld books involve the City Watch, Guards, Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, and The Fifth Elephant. Night Watch continues the story of the City Watch characters by going back in time to explain how the central character, Sam Vimes, came to be. However, Night Watch, is not the typical hysterical Pratchett romp through the fantastic world of the Disc. This book, while still funny, is a little darker than the average Discworld book and a little bit deeper, which makes it a very nice change of pace. The older Sam Vimes as John Keel, teaches the younger Vimes the meaning of being a watchman, doing the job that’s in front of you and keeping the peace. It’s in some ways a sad and trying story, but it opens up tremendous insight into one of the most beloved Discworld characters. This book probably is not the best choice for your first Discworld book, but if you are a fan of the Discworld and enjoy the books about the City Watch, this book is a must read.
James D. DeWitt @ 9:55 pm
This is the Discworld version of a time machine story. I think it’s the best written of the entire Terry Pratchett library, but I only give it four stars.
The thing about any time machine story is that you already know how it comes out. And, for me at least, that takes a bit out of Pratchett’s toolbox. Pratchett novels in the past have been a wild ride where you were never completely sure how it would all work out. “Night Watch” is a wild ride, but it’s a roller coaster ride, and you know at the end of the ride you’ll be, more or less, back at the starting point, breathless but okay.
There’s also a bit of a character development issue. Maybe it’s just the Monks of History having problems again, but how did eager young nightwatchman Sam Vimes – not John Keel, but Sam Vimes – turn into the lush we know and love in “Guards! Guards!”? We first met Sam Vimes, remember, lying drunk in a gutter in a rainstorm…
Still and all, this is an excellent addition to the Night Watch series. Not an introduction, mind you. I think you need to meet Fred Colon and Nobby Nobbs in “Guards! Guards!” or “Men at Arms” to appreciate those first, earlier encounters here. Especially to ah… savor the meeting with Nobby. Longstanding mysteries are solved, and half the fun is knowing they are mysteries in advance. Why Reg Shoe is a zombie. Whether Vetinari is indeed an assassin.
Pratchett’s wordcraft is as good or even better than it has ever been. He is particularly deft in seamlessly intertwining the linked story threads and his message, which he slips in as craftily as any assassin. The party at which Mad Lord Winder is not assassinated is particularly well done.
I’m not rabid about Pratchett – I’m not a chronic hanger-on at L-Space, and there are some small sections of The APF I’ve not committed to memory. But any Prachett book is cause for keen anticipation and delighted, delightful reading. “Night Watch” is no exception. Oh, and stay off the Library dome in lightning storms…
Daniel Gronlie @ 11:29 pm
Night Watch is Terry Pratchett’s consummate masterpiece. He applies his insights into politics, ambition, loyalty, commitment, love, duty, sacrifice, and human fragility in a powerful, frequently entertaining, and ultimately overwhelming story. Pratchett shines when he fills each page with something to make it worth inclusion in the whole, and he does so brilliantly in Night Watch.
On my first reading, I carefully avoided reading ahead, and although many of the book’s conclusions were clearly foreshadowed, I was near tears at the book’s final revelations. The book sharply contrasts the potential for great natural bravery among the streetwise downtrodden with the potential for casual cruelty among the powerful elite. Not that the elite are typecast as cruel – several major characters among the “elite” are written with great depth, and the future Patrician of Ankh-Morpork finally has his moment to shine, albeit as a young man.
My favorite Pratchett novel, bar none. Worthy of many rereads.
RachelWalker @ 1:14 am
This is another excellent book in the Discworld series. It’s not the best, by some way, but it’s still an incredibly good read.
Sam Vimes is cast back in time to old Anhk-Morpork. Whilst there he must drag a vicious killer back to the present, stop a bloody revolution, and teach the young Vimes how to be a good copper, otherwise when he returns, he may find himself faced with no future at all.
This book is considerably darker than some of Pratchett’s works, and there’s not quite as much humour as normal, which doesnt really matter, because it is still there in part. (Indeed, the way Nobby Nobbs imparts news of husband’s death’s to their new widows is posibly the funniest thing i have ever read.) However, it’s still absolutely chock-full of the philosophical musings which lift his books so far most fantasy novels, indeed, almost ALL novels. Not only are his books immensely enjoyable, funny and well written, they make you think, and they say a great great deal about the world we live in today, by using the Discworld societies as mirrors of our own.
Some people say that some of books of the last five or so years havent been as good as some of those from his “middle period”, i however, couldn’t disagree more. In the past few years, terry Pratchett ahs produced some of his absolutely best work, from the best of the entire series, “The Truth”, to the cleverst work of detective fiction i’ve ever come across, “Feet of Clay”.
This book has another cracking plot with some excellent characters (it was great to see some of the characters we now know so well, in their younger days. Nobby, Fred, etc. Indeed, the young Havelock Vetinari provides an absolutely brilliant performance.) and it’s nie to have a window into Anhk-Morporks history, however, after the excellent first 200 pages, the book slows down a bit and gets slightly, dare i say it, mundane, for a very short while, before it picks itself up again and goe son to another great ending.
Terry Pratchett really deserves some kind of award for this, and every book he’s wrriten. Indeed, with Terry Pratchett writing a book a year, no other fantasy/sci-fi writer would stand a chance.